


Past The Radar

by tielan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-06-18 18:36:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15492138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: In hindsight, Maria probably should have realised she was in deep trouble right about then.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Many, many years ago, back around Cap2, people actually asked for Maria/Steve fics in exchanges. Frequently, I started writing them treats, and almost equally frequently, I couldn't find the right words, or enough conclusion to finish it.
> 
> This was written to a request by AdrianZ in the MCU Ladies exchange of, oh, 2014 or 2015: " _Maria Hill and Captain America secretly dating during Winter Soldier_ ". It's still a snippet, but there's at least one more section completed, before an unfinished third section (shorthand: "and then the oral sex").

Maria’s first surprise is how easy it is to get a six-foot supersoldier past the radar.

Actually, no, that’s not her first surprise.

Her first surprise is that the supersoldier in question asks her out. She’s not exactly the approachable sort for most guys, and the ones who do tend to be swagger over substance. Most of the time, the swagger suffices.

“I’m sorry,” she says after a moment’s disbelieving silence, “what did you just say?”

To give Rogers his due, he doesn’t back down. “I asked whether you’d consider having dinner with me.”

Maria stares at him. He stares back. “Okay,” she says in the tone of voice that isn’t assent, just buying time. She reminds herself that he’s still acclimatising to the modern world, that he probably wants to talk shop, or pump her for information about Phil, or just do something other than sit at a table alone as he’s been doing since New York.

And she really wishes that her heart wouldn’t go pitty-pat, just because a really gorgeous, well-built, from-all-accounts-actually-rather-lovely guy has asked her to join him for dinner.

“I understand if you’re busy,” Rogers says after a moment. “I just figured you’d have an idea of where to eat in this town.”

“Not unless it involves a takeout box.”

“I can do takeout.” He quirks a smile. “Your place or mine?”

This time Maria’s ears go hot. That was definitely an invitation. “Uh. Captain—”

“I’d rather you called me by name, Maria.”

She fixes him with a sharp look. “Do you usually move this fast?”

The smile is rueful and probably not aimed to charm. It charms nevertheless. “I get the feeling that if a man doesn’t move fast on you, you’re gone before he manages ‘hello’. And I’m hoping you like the direct and awkward approach because that’s really all I have.”

In hindsight, Maria probably should have realised she was in deep trouble right about then.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently there is a little more in this right now.

Maria’s _second_ surprise is how easy it is to befriend a six-foot supersoldier under the radar.

Considering he’s Captain America and she’s the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, becoming friends should be a fraught proposition. Or maybe it’s _less_ fraught simply by virtue of their positions.

He drops by her office with reports, argues tactics and STRIKE team deployments, and brings her coffee from the cafeteria that hasn’t been roll-boiling in the pot for the last four days. She gives him recommendations for places to go and things to look up, offers advice on the modern world, and makes suggestions for him to connect with other people, both in and out of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Some of it is because it’s her duty to push him out there.

Some of it is because she’s terrified that if she doesn’t, she might take him up on what he’s never retracted.

Sometimes she wonders if he’s seeing other people – certainly there’s no shortage of women at S.H.I.E.L.D who give off clear signals that they're his for the taking should he so much as crook his finger. And he doesn’t bring up his offer again.

But Maria’s worked for a dozen years in international intelligence with men who think they’re in the know – high-functioning, high-performing, my-country’s-security-is-on-the-line-don’t-you-know-who-I-am types – so she knows what it feels like when a man makes an offer with insistence behind it. And she knows when that offer has been retracted because she hasn’t accepted with enough enthusiasm to pet his ego.

He made an offer, she hasn’t taken him up on it, until she does or until he takes it back, it’s still there. Maria doesn’t know how she knows this – a glint in his eye, a quirk of his mouth, a wry cast to his face – but sometimes she thinks about taking him up on it, and then thinks he can’t possibly still have that offer open, and then realises through some brief interaction that, yes, the offer is still open.

The thing is, Rogers’ sense of person – his masculinity, his sense of self – doesn’t ride on her acceptance or rejection in any way.

To a woman who’s worked for a dozen years among high-functioning, high-performing, my-country’s-security-is-on-the-line-don’t-you-know-who-I-am types...that’s terrifyingly attractive.

 


End file.
